India summons High Commissioner on Singapore PM's statement of 'Nehru's India'

Taking a strong stand on Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's speech in Parliament, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday summoned Simon Wong, High Commissioner of Singapore to Delhi.

The English newspaper The Hindu, citing Indian government sources, has written that India has described Lee Hsien Loong's statement as "unnecessary" and "unacceptable".

In his statement, Singapore's Prime Minister Loong criticized the current weakening of "Nehru's India", and referred to "criminal allegations" against Indian lawmakers.

Prime Minister Loong was delivering a speech on February 15 in Singapore's parliament on a report of the Committee of Privileges, the newspaper writes, on an investigation into allegations of lying by members of the country's largest opposition party, the Workers' Party. . While speaking on this report, PM Loong gave the example of the elected politicians in India and Israel at present, giving the example of the decline in political integrity. He even referred to Britain's "Party Gate" scandal.

In his speech, Prime Minister Loong said, "Nehru's India has become such where, according to media reports, almost half of the MPs in the Lok Sabha have criminal charges, including rape and murder. However, it is also said that most of these cases are politically motivated.

He also said that it is important that we stop Singapore from going down that path.

The Singapore Prime Minister's remarks have triggered controversy amid the long-standing friendly relations between the two countries.

At the start of the speech, Prime Minister Lee praised former Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and former Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion for the freedom struggles fought for their countries, but also said that later generations of politicians It has continuously worked to bring down the moral values.

He said that "leaders who fight and win for freedom are often extraordinary individuals with great courage, immense culture and outstanding ability, they emerge from fire-like situations and emerge as leaders of the common people." Like- David Ben-Gurion, Jawaharlal Nehru, and many of our leaders. ,

After discussing the findings of the committee's report, a vote was held in Singapore's parliament to fix the penalty amount for three Workers' Party leaders, in which three people, including Rais Khan of the Workers' Party, were found guilty of lying and those He was fined about 26,000 US dollars. At the same time, criminal action can also be taken against Workers Party President Pritam Singh and Vice President Faisal Manap for their involvement in this.

According to the newspaper, Lee did not cite any specific sources for his claim about Indian lawmakers, but he is believed to have said this based on a 2019 report by the Association of Democratic Reforms, which found that Out of 539 candidates who won the general elections, 233 MPs have criminal charges.

Nirmala Sitharaman hit back at Manmohan Singh, Modi government was surrounded on foreign policy

According to the report of the English newspaper Indian Express, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy, saying that the leaders of the ruling party must have understood by now that leaders should be hugged, swinging with them and Eating biryani without invitation does not improve the relationship.

He also said that when he was the Prime Minister, he 'let his work speak' and not 'kept talking about himself'.

Just before the Punjab elections, Manmohan Singh released a video in Punjabi language appealing to the people of Punjab to vote and said that the Center has "tried to defame Punjab and Punjabis". He warned of "partisan politics" and said that the central government tried to create a rift between the people of Punjab and Chief Minister Channi on the issue of Prime Minister's security.

Criticizing the government's economic and foreign policy, Singh said, "This government does not understand the economy and due to this unemployment is at its peak today. Farmers, women, and students are all troubled."

"China has been infiltrating our land for the last one year, but it is being hidden. Our old allies are moving away from us."

Responding to this statement of Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister who could not get the country out of inflation for 22 months, during whose time capital investment from the country kept decreasing. How suddenly I remembered the economy today. Is this only for Punjab elections? ,

Hijab controversy: BJP government may change the order

According to the English newspaper Indian Express, amidst the ongoing hijab controversy in Karnataka, the BJP government may make slight changes in a controversial order issued on 5 February.

Under this order, it has been said that banning the hijab in government colleges will not be considered a violation of religious freedom.

Quoting sources, the newspaper writes that now the government is going to make some changes in this order. However, this change will not happen immediately because the ongoing dispute in the state regarding the hijab is being heard in the Karnataka High Court.